Macrokinetic determination of isopropanol removal using a downward flow biofilter
Satida Krailas, Suppalak Tongta and Vissanu Meeyoo
pp. 55 - 64
Abstract
Biofiltration is a process for eliminating contaminants in air using microorganisms immobilized on a surface of solid support media. This technique has been used successfully to control a number of air contaminants such as odors, Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), and Hazardous Air Pollutants (HAPs) due to its economic attraction. Microorganisms obtained from local activated sludge (Huay-Kwang wastewater treatment plant (Bangkok, Thailand)) were selectively enriched and inoculated to the biofilter. The downward flow biofilter was chosen, due to the ease of water compensation at the dry zone, to operate continuously for more than 3 months under various concentrations of isopropanol alcohol (IPA) input at a constant filtered air flow rate of 3 L/min. The maximum IPA elimination capacity of 276 g/m3-h was achieved at the IPA inlet of 342 g/m3-h with acetone production rate of 56 g/m3-h as the intermediate. It was also found that the acetone vapour was partly degraded by the acetone-utilizing microorganisms before leaving the bed. In order to understand the transport phenomena of biofiltration, it is necessary to consider the kinetic behavior of the bioreaction. Therefore, this paper introduces Wani’s method of macrokinetic determination based on the simple Monod kinetic (Wani, Lau and Branion, 1999). In this study, the maximum reaction rate per unit volume (Rm) and the Monod constant (KM) were found to be 0.12 g/m3-s and 2.72 g/m3 respectively.
